Their plan would provide a new class of worker visas for low-skilled workers, secure the border, crack down on employers, improve legal immigration, and create a 13-year pathway to citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants that are already here.

"As to the 11 million, they'll have a pathway to citizenship, but it will be earned, it will be long, and it will be hard, and I think it is fair," Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. said.

"And the main thing, the combination of events in this bill will prevent a third wave of illegal immigration and replace a broken immigration with a merit-based economic based system to help grow our economy in the future," he said.

Graham said he is confident the bill will pass both houses. Other lawmakers warned there are still important details to hash out.